Politics edition:
- Mother ship? White House staffers depart for Harvard Law School [Politico]
- New York: “Lawmakers consider lawyer-friendly med-mal bills,” even as many key legislators moonlight at personal injury firms [Reuters]
- David Brooks on explosive political potential of Fannie Mae scandal [NYTimes] After Kentucky bar panel’s vote to disbar Chesley, Ohio AG pulls him off Fannie Mae suit [Adler, Frank, Beth Musgrave/Lexington Herald-Leader]
- Alabama legislature removes Jim Crow language from state constitution — but black lawmakers oppose the idea [Constitutional Daily]
- AAJ lobbyist Andy Cochran works GOP turf, has convinced trial lawyers to sponsor Christian radio program [Mokhiber, “Seventh Amendment Advocate“]
- Centers for Disease Control funnels grants to allies for political advocacy on favored public-health causes [Jeff Stier, Daily Caller]
- Must have mistaken her for a jury: “John Edwards Sought Millions From Heiress” [ABC News] “One thing [worse than Edwards’s] conduct is the government’s effort to put him in jail for it.” [Steve Chapman]
One Comment
From Steve Chapman: “The government insists the funds were campaign contributions intended to ‘conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy.’ Edwards’ lawyers say they were personal gifts that he used for a private, and perfectly legal, purpose: to keep his wife in the dark.”
Did Edwards report these “gifts” on his tax returns? $900,000 easily exceeds the threshold amount which requires them to be reported as income. If these gifts were included when he filed his 1040, the government has no case. On the other hand, if he’s only making the “gift” claim now, it sure looks like he’s trying to cover up his misuse of campaign funds after the fact. As he was trying “to keep his wife in the dark”, listing it on a joint return would seem to defeat the purpose.